Category Archives: food

I cannot believe it’s been over a month since I posted last. It definitely doesn’t feel that long.

The past month has been ridiculously busy. Four weeks ago, my best friend’s brother found out he was being deployed about three months earlier than planned, so all of our lives shifted into overdrive. We were trying to fit all kinds of things in before he left, get all his stuff here from Camp LeJeune, help him with anything he needed. It was a rough goodbye last Monday… everything felt so abrupt and rushed. We got on base at 11:45 and Bryan left around 3. On top of everything, it was nasty weather – rainy and cold. Hopefully it’ll be better for his homecoming in February! Wonderful birthday present to the both of us!

I have some majorly amazing recipes I’m getting ready to try. Everybody at work is already salivating and begging for more cookies. I think I could work every day of the week and every single one of those days I would hear something about food/cookies. It’s times like that I feel like Superwoman. I may not be a lot of things, but man… I can cook. I have power.

For the past three weeks, I feel like I’m just teetering closer and closer to sinus craziness. For the majority of my life, I’ve had sinus infections and bronchitis twice a year – Spring and Fall. Somehow, the Spring before I got married, this anomaly disappeared. I thought, hooray! I can have a life during seasonal changes! And then that Fall I realized that my sinuses had just decided to pool resources and attack me full-force once a year instead of half-power twice a year. Great. So now I’m just waiting, feeling like I’m about to be ambushed when I least expect it.

Also, on Friday, I got Featherlocks in my hair. I got three of them (a bundle) – an orange grizzly (striped), a bright yellow, and a dark copper. It basically took five minutes and I was immediately in love. I wanted to go back before the end of the day and get more. I didn’t, but you better believe I’m going back this week and getting a bundle of chartreuse, blue, and purple!

I made my cheater lasagna a few nights ago for some new friends who came to dinner. I call it “cheater” lasagna because it tastes just as delicious as my “full-on” lasagna, only it’s cheaper and takes much less work/time. So I thought, hey, this tastes good. Maybe I should share with the Internet. Because we all know the Internet craves a good Italian meal every once in a while. Maybe I’ll also add some pictures next time I make it.

Brown meat with salt and pepper. While that’s cooking, mix the eggs, parm, and ricotta. Throw in some parsley just to make it pretty.
Then mix the two cans of sauce so that the tastes are blended well. When the meat is ready, spread one cup of the sauce on the bottom of the pan. Layer noodles, and half each of the cheese mixture, meat, and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers once, sprinkling some more parsley on top to give it a rustic look. Cover tightly with foil.

Bake 1 hour at 350°F or until cheese is bubbly and delicious-looking. Let the pan stand outside the oven for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Firstly, forgive the pictures. They were taken on my phone the very first time I made them. Now, onward.
Last fall, during the Great Cookie Crisis of 2009 when none of my usual cookies were behaving properly in my oven o’ Satan, I made up a recipe for these impeccable all-good-things-0f-October cookies. Pretty much all the other cookies were turning out like bread and/or muffin tops, except without all the flavor, so I figured the heaviness of the pumpkin would force them prostrate on the cookie sheet. It worked, sort of, but the cookies were WONDERFUL. So here’s the recipe!

Drop tablespoons full onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes.
The amount yielded will vary according to how big or small your tablespoons are. I usually end up with 12-15. Cookies will be soft and gooey on the inside, but will set up well enough to carry around and not drop crumbs all over your house or party.

If you make some, let me know! I’d love to hear how they turn out for you!